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For Fear of Little Men
'We daren't go a-hunting for fear of little men' - words from an old children's song, but to the residents of one Welsh village it's more than just a nursery rhyme. A legend has been handed down through the ages, telling of an ancient mountain people, dedicated to evil, who were massacred by the villagers' ancestors three thousand years ago. No animals ever graze on the northern slope of the mountain where the bloodshed took place and strange incidents befall anyone who wanders there.
What does this folktale have to do with a man's recurring nightmares, the murder of a High Court judge, an outbreak of food poisoning, a strange road accident, and the death of a rock climber? Sir Marcus Levin is determined to find out, but he may not be prepared for the truth that will be revealed in a horrifying ceremony at the heart of the mountain.
One of the finest novels by John Blackburn (1923-1993), known in his time as 'today's master of horror' (The Times Literary Supplement), For Fear of Little Men (1972) is a classic of folk horror, back in print at last to chill a new generation of readers.
What does this folktale have to do with a man's recurring nightmares, the murder of a High Court judge, an outbreak of food poisoning, a strange road accident, and the death of a rock climber? Sir Marcus Levin is determined to find out, but he may not be prepared for the truth that will be revealed in a horrifying ceremony at the heart of the mountain.
One of the finest novels by John Blackburn (1923-1993), known in his time as 'today's master of horror' (The Times Literary Supplement), For Fear of Little Men (1972) is a classic of folk horror, back in print at last to chill a new generation of readers.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
7 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
John Blackburn
32 books34 followersJohn Blackburn was born in 1923 in the village of Corbridge, England, the second son of a clergyman. Blackburn attended Haileybury College near London beginning in 1937, but his education was interrupted by the onset of World War II; the shadow of the war, and that of Nazi Germany, would later play a role in many of his works. He served as a radio officer during the war in the Mercantile Marine from 1942 to 1945, and resumed his education afterwards at Durham University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1949. Blackburn taught for several years after that, first in London and then in Berlin, and married Joan Mary Clift in 1950. Returning to London in 1952, he took over the management of Red Lion Books.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
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May 21, 2018This hardcover is copy 40 of 200 printed and is signed by:
John F. Blackburn (Facsimile)
John Palin
Gahan Wilson
John F. Blackburn (Facsimile)
John Palin
Gahan Wilson
May 30, 2024
I came for the Welsh folk horror, I mostly got Nazi germ warfare, Soviet aviation espionage, and a touch of the Troubles.
Sir Marcus Levin is a holocaust survivor and a Nobel prize winning bacteriologist. His wife Tania is a former Russian secretary who has a talent for safe cracking and is skilled at martial arts. They have a vacation cottage in the village of Treflys, Wales, located under the looming mountain of Allt y Cnicht, where the locals believe the ancient evil deity Daran was buried alive by their ancestors centuries past. When wealthy aviation entrepreneur Daniel Ryder, who owns the land that harbors the alleged burial site, allows an archeological team to commence a dig of the area, bad feeling is stirred among the superstitious villagers, including Ryder’s own wife, and a tragedy quickly follows, which may not be the accident it first appears.
For Fear of Little Men is a really odd book. Most of the story switches chapters between the main couple. In Tania’s perspective, she tries to understand what the villagers’ pagan beliefs have to do with the recent possible murder, and what the previous tenant of her cottage, and old hanging judge who was tortured to death in the house, knew about the burial site on the mountain. The focus of Sir Marcus’ perspective is his work at his laboratory in London, as he tries to understand who is responsible for the discharge of a mysterious effluent that has been released into a bay in Ireland, causing instances of food poisoning and catastrophic results for the local wildlife.
It’s an understatement to say that, for a book coming in at under 200 pages, there’s a lot going on. It also felt very much like I unexpectedly picked up a mid-series book. I don’t believe that Sir Marcus Levin and his wife appear in any other Blackburn novels, but considering the elaborate backgrounds for each, as well as their established relationships with certain other characters in the book, it certainly felt that way. This is also very much a novel of its time, with a sort of 1970’s James Bond feel, references to the KGB, conflicts in Northern Ireland, and lots and lots of day drinking.
I went into FFOLM expecting a pretty straightforward folk horror based on the cover and synopsis, and while I appreciate at least that Blackburn did something wildly different, this wasn’t really the novel for me.
Sir Marcus Levin is a holocaust survivor and a Nobel prize winning bacteriologist. His wife Tania is a former Russian secretary who has a talent for safe cracking and is skilled at martial arts. They have a vacation cottage in the village of Treflys, Wales, located under the looming mountain of Allt y Cnicht, where the locals believe the ancient evil deity Daran was buried alive by their ancestors centuries past. When wealthy aviation entrepreneur Daniel Ryder, who owns the land that harbors the alleged burial site, allows an archeological team to commence a dig of the area, bad feeling is stirred among the superstitious villagers, including Ryder’s own wife, and a tragedy quickly follows, which may not be the accident it first appears.
For Fear of Little Men is a really odd book. Most of the story switches chapters between the main couple. In Tania’s perspective, she tries to understand what the villagers’ pagan beliefs have to do with the recent possible murder, and what the previous tenant of her cottage, and old hanging judge who was tortured to death in the house, knew about the burial site on the mountain. The focus of Sir Marcus’ perspective is his work at his laboratory in London, as he tries to understand who is responsible for the discharge of a mysterious effluent that has been released into a bay in Ireland, causing instances of food poisoning and catastrophic results for the local wildlife.
It’s an understatement to say that, for a book coming in at under 200 pages, there’s a lot going on. It also felt very much like I unexpectedly picked up a mid-series book. I don’t believe that Sir Marcus Levin and his wife appear in any other Blackburn novels, but considering the elaborate backgrounds for each, as well as their established relationships with certain other characters in the book, it certainly felt that way. This is also very much a novel of its time, with a sort of 1970’s James Bond feel, references to the KGB, conflicts in Northern Ireland, and lots and lots of day drinking.
I went into FFOLM expecting a pretty straightforward folk horror based on the cover and synopsis, and while I appreciate at least that Blackburn did something wildly different, this wasn’t really the novel for me.
March 2, 2024
I’m new to the writing of John Blackburn, but the experimental nature of his work, and his refusal to follow any sort of norm, has already grabbed me.
Here he introduces the reader to three quite bizarre narrative threads.
In London a man pays a prostitute to just sleep with him “because he was too frightened to sleep alone”. The sex worker suggests he sees a clairvoyant aware that she is nine-tenths a fake. He does, but the session abruptly and and with horrific results.
Meanwhile, in the Atlantic off Northern Ireland is an apparent case of toxic pollution, which has led to the food-poisoning of guests at a dinner party from tainted oysters. A reputed scientist is appointed to investigate and comes across some highly questionable practices in the company involved.
Most fishy though is the third thread, set in the Treflys valley of North Wales, in the shadow of Cnicht mountain. Local folklore results in the inhabitants being “morbidly superstitious” as they believe in a legend older than the Celts of “hill demons” which tell of a demoniacal leader with the name of Daran. Cnicht is a mountain I know well, and a perfect setting for this part of the book.
Part folk-horror, part murder mystery, part eco-thriller, this is fine storytelling, first published in 1974, and ahead of its time, only receiving its appropriate readership on a reissue from Valancourt in 2022. Blackburn does his twists very well, and there are 3 or 4 that are particularly rewarding, not least the last one. I read of Lovecraft being one of his influencers, but I would add Arthur Machen to this, a fellow Snowdonian. But influences only, as this is stamped with uniqueness, he may well have been the earliest genre writer who saw the nightmarish possibilities of eco-terrors. In turn, he has influenced many who came after him.
Here he introduces the reader to three quite bizarre narrative threads.
In London a man pays a prostitute to just sleep with him “because he was too frightened to sleep alone”. The sex worker suggests he sees a clairvoyant aware that she is nine-tenths a fake. He does, but the session abruptly and and with horrific results.
Meanwhile, in the Atlantic off Northern Ireland is an apparent case of toxic pollution, which has led to the food-poisoning of guests at a dinner party from tainted oysters. A reputed scientist is appointed to investigate and comes across some highly questionable practices in the company involved.
Most fishy though is the third thread, set in the Treflys valley of North Wales, in the shadow of Cnicht mountain. Local folklore results in the inhabitants being “morbidly superstitious” as they believe in a legend older than the Celts of “hill demons” which tell of a demoniacal leader with the name of Daran. Cnicht is a mountain I know well, and a perfect setting for this part of the book.
Part folk-horror, part murder mystery, part eco-thriller, this is fine storytelling, first published in 1974, and ahead of its time, only receiving its appropriate readership on a reissue from Valancourt in 2022. Blackburn does his twists very well, and there are 3 or 4 that are particularly rewarding, not least the last one. I read of Lovecraft being one of his influencers, but I would add Arthur Machen to this, a fellow Snowdonian. But influences only, as this is stamped with uniqueness, he may well have been the earliest genre writer who saw the nightmarish possibilities of eco-terrors. In turn, he has influenced many who came after him.
October 19, 2020
Another creepy horror hit from John Blackburn. Though I felt it somewhat dated/bogged-down by the Irish Sea conflict.
Sir Marcus and Lady Tania Levin (after a miscarriage synchronised with a monstrous rebirth) become embroiled in the increasingly sinister events around the cursed Allt y Cricht (Hill of the Knights) near their cottage in North Wales. Locals disapprove of a team of young archaeologists seeking evidence of a pre-Celtic culture and the aeroplanes with engines emitting an ominous primal summoning...
Despite certain flaws Blackburn crafts an excellent thriller-chiller that manages to be both Lovecraftian with psychic possession and eldritch horror climax and Machenesque with its primal Welsh setting and the nightmare 'little' folk...
Sir Marcus and Lady Tania Levin (after a miscarriage synchronised with a monstrous rebirth) become embroiled in the increasingly sinister events around the cursed Allt y Cricht (Hill of the Knights) near their cottage in North Wales. Locals disapprove of a team of young archaeologists seeking evidence of a pre-Celtic culture and the aeroplanes with engines emitting an ominous primal summoning...
Despite certain flaws Blackburn crafts an excellent thriller-chiller that manages to be both Lovecraftian with psychic possession and eldritch horror climax and Machenesque with its primal Welsh setting and the nightmare 'little' folk...
September 12, 2018
Well, Space Pilgrims, I think we've done it. I think we have finally found me a "favorite" John Blackburn novel. It doesn't have quite the gonzo gusto of Bury Him Darkly's ending. It doesn't have quite the terror of Our Lady of Pain's bleakness. It has a similar sort of rural-mystery plot (including some straight rehash moments, such as a ship crash) as Children of Night but isn't quite as ballsy with its cleverness. But still, for that lack of gonzo, for that lack of over-the-top, for that lack of smug cleverness, we have what might be one of the best John Blackburn novels to just pick up, hand to someone else, and say, "Read this". It is more balanced than many of the others. It's kooky science is still kooky but somehow...plausible? That's not the right word but that's the first one that comes to mind. It feels like a Proto-Phil-Rickman book with it's Welsh countryside and its old legends and its new disasters, only 1/4 the size of a Rickman novel and with a tighter cast of characters. It skirts the folk horror designation and probably should be considered an early-ish example of that, but with some science horror and political espionage elements tossed in.
Sure, I twigged the surprise twist (at least most of it) somewhere around the 1/3 mark and then spent the next half of the book increasingly frustrated for I felt like it had been too telegraphed but was still being treated like a Deep-Mystery(tm). This might be simply because I've now read something like 1/4 of Blackburn's total output in under a year, so I have learned his cadences. I suspect it's a bit too easy, though. Doesn't matter. It is still clever and I like the idea that it sort of provides an escape room with many clues on the table from fairly early on. Blackburn usually holds a few back until towards the end.
So, here we have the story about a man who suffers the same nightmare over and over (and his self-defenestration), an epidemic of unknown cause, a popular model of airplane with a unique (and annoying) sounding exhaust system, an archaeological team made up of amateurs looking for a pre-Gael civilization, some lord-and-lady-of-the-manor drama, a retired judge who was writing a peculiar book but who got horribly murdered before he could finish it, a suspected Nazi war criminal running a factory, and a Welsh village afraid of what an old legend might mean if its true. There's a subplot involving a youth hostel and another involving a miscarriage that are more flavor than important - each ties into the plot, but each could have been dropped. There's the sense of stalling after all the cards are played (maybe the 2/3s mark, though like I said you could guess most of it well before that). In other words, there's some fluff where true bloat is rare in Blackburn, but none of it is offensively fluffy and feels like world building for the most part.
It's good. Great, even. Shame it's so generally overlooked. Valancourt hasn't touched it, yet, and it is generally overshadowed by the standards, such as The Scent of New-Mown Hay and Devil Daddy.
Sure, I twigged the surprise twist (at least most of it) somewhere around the 1/3 mark and then spent the next half of the book increasingly frustrated for I felt like it had been too telegraphed but was still being treated like a Deep-Mystery(tm). This might be simply because I've now read something like 1/4 of Blackburn's total output in under a year, so I have learned his cadences. I suspect it's a bit too easy, though. Doesn't matter. It is still clever and I like the idea that it sort of provides an escape room with many clues on the table from fairly early on. Blackburn usually holds a few back until towards the end.
So, here we have the story about a man who suffers the same nightmare over and over (and his self-defenestration), an epidemic of unknown cause, a popular model of airplane with a unique (and annoying) sounding exhaust system, an archaeological team made up of amateurs looking for a pre-Gael civilization, some lord-and-lady-of-the-manor drama, a retired judge who was writing a peculiar book but who got horribly murdered before he could finish it, a suspected Nazi war criminal running a factory, and a Welsh village afraid of what an old legend might mean if its true. There's a subplot involving a youth hostel and another involving a miscarriage that are more flavor than important - each ties into the plot, but each could have been dropped. There's the sense of stalling after all the cards are played (maybe the 2/3s mark, though like I said you could guess most of it well before that). In other words, there's some fluff where true bloat is rare in Blackburn, but none of it is offensively fluffy and feels like world building for the most part.
It's good. Great, even. Shame it's so generally overlooked. Valancourt hasn't touched it, yet, and it is generally overshadowed by the standards, such as The Scent of New-Mown Hay and Devil Daddy.
June 26, 2022
Blackburn once again throws science and the supernatural and Nazis at the wall, hoping what sticks is horrifying. Again. This time the science is germs (plants and spores get to sit this one out) and aviation breakthroughs, while the supernatural seems to be a dollop of possession mated with folk horror. And for once, the author doesn’t call out the military for the big finale.
3.5 stars from me, as well as the thought that if you despise the first book you try by this author, you might despise all of them, because no matter how much of a fan I’ve become - happy but not rabid - I freely admit the zaniness has samey-ness. But to continue the thought I was having…I am one who actually borderline despised - unhappy but not rabid - the first Blackburn I tried out. But you could do what I did, if you see potential, try a second one, and see if the bag of tricks snarls, thrashes, and seeps something out a bit better. Or, just don’t start with Children of the Night. I much preferred this, and Bury Him Darkly, while A Scent of New-Mown Hay, his first book, is also a satisfying revving of the engine.
Everything crawling into my hand from this author so far has been under 200 pages, and the first thing to ooze out between the fingers, over to and down the drain is characters you can love and bond with. But that’s where I’ll stop bashing books I’ve enjoyed overall, and say: Blackburn has a certain something, when it comes to quick-draw, blink-and-it’s-over, think-and-it-crumbles, plot-driven Horror. I personally enjoy the weird mixing of unstable, seemingly incompatible elements plaguing admittedly plug-in personalities. The books don’t drag, I find them uniquely creepy, and what is shallow and messy if attempted for 400 pages makes a nice disgusting snack at 180 pages. Then again, being forced to read them all in a row might be a form of hell, worse than Bill Murray as weatherman Phil ever, ever faced, in terms of repeating samey-ness. I don’t advise that.
I think I would suggest Bury Him Darkly just ahead of For Fear of Little Men, but in any case, if you are reading Horror tucked in the nooks and crannies, do one Blackburn, at least.
3.5 stars from me, as well as the thought that if you despise the first book you try by this author, you might despise all of them, because no matter how much of a fan I’ve become - happy but not rabid - I freely admit the zaniness has samey-ness. But to continue the thought I was having…I am one who actually borderline despised - unhappy but not rabid - the first Blackburn I tried out. But you could do what I did, if you see potential, try a second one, and see if the bag of tricks snarls, thrashes, and seeps something out a bit better. Or, just don’t start with Children of the Night. I much preferred this, and Bury Him Darkly, while A Scent of New-Mown Hay, his first book, is also a satisfying revving of the engine.
Everything crawling into my hand from this author so far has been under 200 pages, and the first thing to ooze out between the fingers, over to and down the drain is characters you can love and bond with. But that’s where I’ll stop bashing books I’ve enjoyed overall, and say: Blackburn has a certain something, when it comes to quick-draw, blink-and-it’s-over, think-and-it-crumbles, plot-driven Horror. I personally enjoy the weird mixing of unstable, seemingly incompatible elements plaguing admittedly plug-in personalities. The books don’t drag, I find them uniquely creepy, and what is shallow and messy if attempted for 400 pages makes a nice disgusting snack at 180 pages. Then again, being forced to read them all in a row might be a form of hell, worse than Bill Murray as weatherman Phil ever, ever faced, in terms of repeating samey-ness. I don’t advise that.
I think I would suggest Bury Him Darkly just ahead of For Fear of Little Men, but in any case, if you are reading Horror tucked in the nooks and crannies, do one Blackburn, at least.
May 23, 2022
For Fear of Little Men is another hit from an author I look forward to reading almost every time. John Blackburn must have had a check list of plot elements whenever he wrote his books: bacteriology/virology, Nazis, conspiracies, wild as hell endings, this book has it all! This tale has the added element of folklore and folk horror to keep me hooked, as if I needed any more enticement to read it.
The plot kicks off with a pretty harrowing prologue, where I spent nearly the rest of the book trying to figure out just where it tied to the rest of the plot. From there we follow our hero, Nobel Prize winning scientist, Sir Marcus Levin (and my friend Marc would take umbrage by the fact that Blackburn shortens his name to Mark), as his government calls on him to investigate some pollution that might have caused some important government officials to get sick. Good thing the authorities asked Levin to investigate, as they would have had quite a mess on their hands if he wasn't involved here! Levin's investigation takes him to a shady company, a village with many secrets, and a mountain where a secret race of people once lived. Let's just say, things go out of control quickly, and it's up to this scientist, and his two-fisted wife of action to save the day! As with so many previous Blackburn books, this was a blast, and I'm excited to get my hands on more of his works.
The plot kicks off with a pretty harrowing prologue, where I spent nearly the rest of the book trying to figure out just where it tied to the rest of the plot. From there we follow our hero, Nobel Prize winning scientist, Sir Marcus Levin (and my friend Marc would take umbrage by the fact that Blackburn shortens his name to Mark), as his government calls on him to investigate some pollution that might have caused some important government officials to get sick. Good thing the authorities asked Levin to investigate, as they would have had quite a mess on their hands if he wasn't involved here! Levin's investigation takes him to a shady company, a village with many secrets, and a mountain where a secret race of people once lived. Let's just say, things go out of control quickly, and it's up to this scientist, and his two-fisted wife of action to save the day! As with so many previous Blackburn books, this was a blast, and I'm excited to get my hands on more of his works.
May 14, 2025
2.5 if I could. Lots of cool elements and setting but not a fan of the writing or how most things were handled really . . .
July 24, 2022
In the hands of a better author this could have been great, but the writing was unbelievably dull. Nazis, germ warfare, reincarnation, small country towns, ancient Welsh deities? Come on, it should have been amazing. What a slog.
August 26, 2018
What do a factory (run by a former Nazi!) polluting the waters off Northern Ireland, sonic chem-trails, Russian industrial shenanigans, AND a brooding ominous mountain in Wales have in common?
John Blackburn does an admirable job spinning a tale that ties these threads together. This has been my favorite title in Centipede Press Blackburn series.
John Blackburn does an admirable job spinning a tale that ties these threads together. This has been my favorite title in Centipede Press Blackburn series.
June 15, 2023
Not what I was expecting. I'd heard of "For Fear of Little Men" as a lost-race story, expecting a horror novel in the Arthur Machen mould as it's set in Wales. What I got was essentially a techno-thriller set in Wales and featuring skulduggery in the aerospace industry, industrial pollution at sea (topical, that) and the occasional moment of kinky labourer-and-posh-lady sex. I was reminded of Dennis Wheatley's novels in that they tend to feature middle-class people sitting around and discussing stuff, occasionally you will have a foreign character but they tend to be similar. There was also a very strong whiff of CS Lewis in the notion of the legendary giant whose myth still permeates the area and who may not have been as mythical as all that. (this isn't so much the Lewis of Narnia as he of "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength.")
FFOLM bowls along nicely and I was surprised to find on my Kindle edition that I was nearly through with it. I don't' think it's the classic some people have made it out to be though.
One of Terry Pratchett's novels had the same quote as a working title but he changed it. It's from the poem that begins, "Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, we dare not go a-hunting for fear of little men." And just as the poem fails to deliver on the hidden menace of those first two lines - these should be truly fearsome creatures, boggarts and fae hiding in the shadows, watching to trip and snare humans, but they aren't - so also while FFOLM wasn't bad I was disappointed.
FFOLM bowls along nicely and I was surprised to find on my Kindle edition that I was nearly through with it. I don't' think it's the classic some people have made it out to be though.
One of Terry Pratchett's novels had the same quote as a working title but he changed it. It's from the poem that begins, "Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, we dare not go a-hunting for fear of little men." And just as the poem fails to deliver on the hidden menace of those first two lines - these should be truly fearsome creatures, boggarts and fae hiding in the shadows, watching to trip and snare humans, but they aren't - so also while FFOLM wasn't bad I was disappointed.
January 16, 2024
Although I respect Valancourt and their work, unfortunately, this is not the first undeserving book they reprinted: some books have been forgotten for a good reason and this is case with this unreadable hodgepodge! Also this is not the first time that Valancourt, a first-rate publishing house, provides a slapdash, second-rate introduction. In the anonymous “About the Author” we read that Blackburn “earned his bachelor’s degree” but inexplicably the field of studies isn’t specified and that he “taught for several years”, but we aren’t told what subject(s) he taught, in what type of school or where. Inexcusable.
October 3, 2025
this book was not what I thought it was I thought it was going to be about Faye dark Fae and wound up being more of a murder mystery the fade don't even actually get encountered till like 10 minutes maybe even 4 minutes before the book ends and it's mostly about whether or not people believe in the fair or not a man dies and did the fake kill him to the mountain kill him did the old ones kill him or was it just his wife. what a letdown don't read this book. it's also really dry and boring and it was hard to pay attention to.
June 22, 2022
2.5
The second Valancourt edition book I've read this year and unfortunately, another underwhelming disappointment. A semi-folk-horror-crime-thriller-murder-mystery? There's a lot of interesting plot points and elements going on, but the prose is so dry and dull. It definitely picks up around the last 50 pages (lol). Probably the weakest when it comes to fae horror. Great ending though, I'll give it that.
The second Valancourt edition book I've read this year and unfortunately, another underwhelming disappointment. A semi-folk-horror-crime-thriller-murder-mystery? There's a lot of interesting plot points and elements going on, but the prose is so dry and dull. It definitely picks up around the last 50 pages (lol). Probably the weakest when it comes to fae horror. Great ending though, I'll give it that.
June 27, 2022
I think there was too much going on here for it to be entirely successful but it’s fairly entertaining. There’s an element of the classic English countryside mystery, along with some 70s anti-corporate environmentalism, some ancient Celtic myth, Nazis, Russian spies — it’s got everything!
January 2, 2023
A good early-70s period piece. Reminded me a lot of Scream and Scream Again (aka The Disorientated Man) by Peter Saxon, in that the story was completely bonkers.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
December 20, 2024
Okay, this book is genuinely insane. There's the occult mysticism, paganists, Welsh folklore, environmental activism, very detailed aviation science, the Troubles era in Ireland, and, yep - Nazis. It shouldn't work and honestly doesn't -- but it's so weird and chaotic that I kinda dug it.
February 10, 2024
This was a kind of cozy horror/fantasy/SF/mystery with an outrageous ending. It reminded me a bit of Russell Kirk’s gothic tales, mixed with John Christopher. Very enjoyable.
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